I am thinking about designing and building a case for my new setup. Has anyone built on there own before? Any suggestions that I might include.

All I have for equipment is my two technics and my mixer.

I am thinking about building it out of MDF (compressed fiber board) with a foam inside to pad it.

I have built a lot of Car Audio speaker boxes so I am very comfortable with the materials.

I have built a case to house a 2U power amp, a 2U dual CD player, a 19" mixer, a dual cd controller , 1 U Euro 4E lighting cotroller and a 1U light switch panel. It is built out of thick plywood and blockboard. It is a very very strong case! (and heavy). Making your own cases allows for your own designs, however when you start adding the cost of the hardware (L brackets with captive nuts, lift off hinges, catches, corner protectors, edging strips etc) the costs can sometimes come close to a ready made unit. However with your own design you know how well made it is!
Personally I would not use MDF as it needs a lot of extra supporting and cross bracing especially at joints, and unprotected corners can easily get mashed. Plywood is far better and takes "on the road" use much better, although it is a lot more expensive. Good luck!

I agree with Cheezy on this one, having made various cases, lightboxes etc. I f you want long life, shell out the extra and go for Exterior ply.

I cheated...I designed mine on paper but got a professional company to make the case for me.

I knew the case was going to be heavy, (2 double CD decks, a mixer, an effects unit etc) so was very pleased to find out about a material called Astro-board which is supposedly, (and I believe it) stronger than plyboard but around 40%~60% lighter.

I've have to find some way of get a picture up of it...its got some great hinged bits, exactly how I wanted everything.

Plywood is cheaper then MDF.

I have found a place that sells airtight industrial casings for construction that I am going to go check out. My dad got his work laptop case there, you can run it over with a Loader and it won't break.

im thinking of making a custom console at the moment, and i was wondering if anyone had any pics of their consoles to psost to help give us an idea of what would work best.?

Ply cheaper then MDF?!?!?!?
mah thatd save me alot of money - round here a sheet of 18 mm mdf (1220 x 2440) is £15 whereas Ply is £38 ish.
i build alot of speaker cabs and always use ply for the bins and mdf for the mid tops where theres no issues of pannel flexing etc.

As for teh case building - depends what kinda case u want - u can a reltiivley simple carpet covered one etc quite easily and cheaply, but if u want a propper flightcase with extrusion etc its gonna end up costing not much less than just buying one new

I agree with Dynamite, MDF Cheaper than ply???? The only ply I have seen that is cheaper is the nasty internal stuff full of voids and filler! It has the stregth of a cheese sandwich!

MDF or ply isn't that strong if dropped, I would rather spend more money protecting my gear and buy proper flight cases made to measure or standard sizing and fill it up !

Most "propper" flightcases are made out of plywood - but as someone said earlier - if u can afford it go for astroboard - i was a bit dubious when someone tried to sell me some astroboard amp racks but when he offered me a 25 year garuntee (free replacements) i gave in - theve not been damaged so far.
Astroboard really IS lighter and just as strong

I am very sure lumber costs here are much less then they are there. Figuring we have about 10 million percent more trees then you have there.

Yes.....but over here, we drop things by OVER 10 million percent, and get charged more by the company's selling imported wood.

That's Life!